Models can be helpful in
organizing data about a project and in calculating and evaluating
its benefits and costs. A range of software products is
available, primarily developed with government support.
The five listed below are representative. For
details and information on obtaining the software, click
its name.
Transportation planning
Caltrans 
Transportation Planning Planning Offices Office of Transportation Economics Benefit-Cost Analysis Benefit-Cost Models
Transportation Planning Planning Offices Office of Transportation Economics Benefit-Cost Analysis Benefit-Cost Models Benefit-Cost Models
Cal-B/C,
developed by Caltrans, is an easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet
for benefit-cost analysis of highway and transit projects
in a corridor that already contains a highway facility or
a transit service. Highway projects may include HOV and passing
lanes, interchange improvements, and bypass highways. Transit
improvements may include enhanced bus services, light-rail,
and passenger heavy-rail projects. Default data are given
for California conditions.
MicroBENCOST is designed to analyze seven types of highway improvements
in a corridor: (1) capacity enhancement, (2) bypass construction,
(3) intersection or interchange improvement, (4) pavement
rehabilitation, (5) bridge improvement, (6) highway safety
improvement, and (7) railroad grade crossing improvement.
Highways may contain HOV facilities.
STEAM is a model designed to assess multi-modal urban transportation
investment and policy alternatives at the regional and corridor
levels. Transportation system alternatives may include up
to seven modes. Peak and off-peak periods and multiple trip
purposes may be considered. The model is closely linked to
outputs from the 4-step urban transportation modeling process.
HERS-ST is a system-level optimization framework for analyzing investment
strategies to maintain and improve an existing highway network.
New highway construction is not considered. The program automatically
generates candidates for highway improvements, which may be
combined with user-specified improvements. It then determines
the best combination of projects. HERS is closely linked to
the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS).
StratBENCOST is a strategic-level evaluation method to analyze investment
alternatives for expanding and improving a highway system.
A particular strength of this model is its explicit consideration
of the random nature of input parameters. New highway projects
as well as improvements to existing highways may be considered.
Non-highway modes are not considered. The program is used
to compare an investment alternative to a base condition,
which may be another investment alternative. The program can
perform either a single-segment analysis, with or without
induced traffic, or a network-level evaluation with traffic
diversion, the latter typically requiring linkage to the 4-step
transportation modeling process.
You can also download a spreadsheet from this website that contains a generic benefit-cost model, into which you can put your own benefits and cost estimates and your desired discount rate. The same spreadsheet can be used for sensitivity analysis by varying inputs.
Listed below are a number of other evaluation tools not described in detail on this website:
IDAS - A tool to perform benefit-cost analyses of projects involving Intelligent Transportation System technologies. Additional information is available on-line at: http://idas.camsys.com/.
NET_BC - A tool to perform benefit-cost analysis of alternatives based on outputs from the 4-step urban transportation planning modeling process. More information is available on-line at: http://www.blainc.com/transport_plan/mi_studies/analyses.html.
RAILDEC - A strategic decision-support tool for evaluating rail and rail-related intermodal projects. More information is available on-line at: http://www.hlbde.com/products/raildec.html and at: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/1998/fra2698.htm.
SPASM - A spreadsheet application for multi-modal corridor analysis and evaluation at the sketch planning "screening" level of detail. SPASM is a predecessor of and may be considered a crude version of STEAM. Software and documentation are available on-line at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/steam/spasm.htm.
IMPACTS - A group of spreadsheet applications for screening-level evaluation of multi-modal corridor alternatives, including highway and transit improvements, HOV lanes, toll facility conversions, demand management proposals, and bicycle lanes. Inputs are demand estimates by mode for each alternative. Software and documentation are available on-line at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/steam/impacts.htm.
SMITE - A Lotus 123 spreadsheet application to evaluate urban highway expansion at the sketch planning level, considering both induced and diverted traffic. Software and documentation are available on-line at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/steam/smite.htm. A variation of the program (SMITE-ML) for evaluating managed lanes is available at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/steam/smiteml.htm.
SCRITS - A spreadsheet application for estimating user benefits of Intelligent Transportation Systems at the sketch planning level. SCRITS provides a highly approximate subset of the capabilities found in IDAS. Software and documentation are available on-line at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/steam/scrits.htm.
ABC - A Microsoft Access application that implements FAA procedures for benefit-cost analysis of airport projects, and also maintains a database for comparing groups of proposed projects in a State Airport System Plan. Additional information is available on-line at http://edrgroup.com/products/ABC.html.
Acknowledgements
Hosted by the Caltrans Office of Transportation Economics
Created by the California Center for Innovative Transportation at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and the Committee on Planning and Economics of the American Society of Civil Engineers
Acknowledgements | Comments and Suggestions